95% of egg-laying hens live in a space smaller than a standard size sheet of paper, while approximately 50 million hens live in a space half this size. In the Uncooped installation, 8.5” x 11” sheets of paper are stacked 11” tall, and the moving image of a hen is projected onto the paper stack so that her movements are contained within the boundaries of this space. Viewers are encouraged to take home a sheet of paper from the stack, which feature various designs that call attention to the appalling lack of space allotted to egg-laying hens in battery cages. Viewers are also encouraged to learn more about the lives of egg-laying hens by visiting: www.uncooped.org. As the sheets of paper are consumed by the public, the projected space the hen resides in slowly erodes—will she ever be Uncooped?

*The Uncooped installation was designed for The National Museum of Animal & Society’s indoor and outdoor traveling pop-up exhibits and to promote the expanded online and physical Uncooped exhibition at the museum.